By Giles Mole

Updated16 February 2016 - 10:18amfirst published at 10:10am

Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez have been accused of lacking respect and deliberately trying to embarrass their opponents after the Argentine passed up the chance to net his 300th La Liga goal and instead put a hat-trick on a plate for his Uruguayan team-mate.

The pair pulled off the penalty stunt reminiscent of the Pires-Henry botch job for Arsenal back in 2005 - with one small difference - this time it worked.

With Barcelona leading Celta Vigo 3-1 at the Nou Camp, Messi stepped forward in the 81st minute to take a spot-kick, but stunned the crowd by tapping the ball to the side for Suarez, who raced into the box and fired past bewildered goalkeeper Sergio Alvarez.

Messi and Suarez wheeled away in celebration and were quickly mobbed by their team-mates, who looked as surprised as anyone.

Cheeky move: Luis Suarez celebrates with his team mate Lionel Messi.

Photo: Getty Images

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The goal took Suarez onto 23 in the league this season, two ahead of Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo. Barcelona, meanwhile, finished the match 6-1 winners.

While some hailed the pair for their quick thinking, it prompted condemnation from others and forced coach Luis Enrique to reject suggestions the penalty was intended to embarrass Celta.

"There will be those who like it and those who don't," Enrique told reporters. "As well as winning titles, here we try to entertain people and win in a spectacular and sporting manner.

"You can take a penalty like that, it's legal and there's a Cruyff penalty we all know."

Dutch great Cruyff pulled off a similar trick while playing for Ajax against Helmond Sport in 1982, squaring the ball for team mate Jesper Olsen who then passed it back to him to score. Cruyff played for Barca from 1973 to 1978.

As we all know, though, it can sometimes go horribly wrong. Frenchmen Robert Pires and Thierry Henry tried a similar trick for Arsenal against Manchester City in 2005 but got into a total muddle and failed to score.

And Enrique admits that, because of the risk of ridicule, it is not something he would try, especially when it's picked up by the national press.

"I wouldn't dare take it like that because I'd fall over when I put my foot on the ball," he said.

Enrique insisted there was nothing arrogant about Messi's penalty and believes there is a tendency in Spain to look down on moments of skill.

"In this country, a kick (at an opponent) is more readily accepted than anything fancy," he said. "We don't care about that.

"What we have to do is enjoy our football, respect our opponents, try to show we're better through football.

"I'm sorry but I don't think anything special happened. I'm used to seeing them train and there they are even better," he added.